“…We are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence will save us, but it won’t”. Audre Lorde

In every minute of each day somewhere on this earth violence and sexual assault against a woman is happening. The statistics are staggering. According to Amnesty International:

In the U.S. a woman is raped every 6 minutes; a woman is battered every 15 seconds.

In North Africa, 6,000 women are genitally mutilated eacy day. This year more than

15,000 women will be sold into sexual slavery in China. 200 women in Bangladesh will be horribly disfigured when their suprned husbands or suitors burn them with acid. More than 7,000 women in India will be murderd by their families and in-laws in disputes over dowries. Violence aganist women is rooted in a global culture of discrimination which denies women equal rights with men and which legitimizes the appropriation of womens bodies for indivdual gratification or political ends. (Amnesty International)

In 2008 the Social Science Research Council of the Planning Commission noted that 90% of women endure some form of gender-based violence in their workplace. According to the National Violence Against Women survey (NVAW) more than 22% of women experience physical abuse at some point in their lives. For many women these instances occurred at the hands of a family member or intimate partner. The NVAW states that more than 30% of all U.S. citizens know someone who has experienced violence from a male partner.

These are the cold hard facts. Rather than dismiss them as paranoid delusions or ‘overly sensitive rants’ of women and their sympathizers these are clear calls for action to the global community. While much discussion regarding Hiphop is on the images of women, lyrics of some rap music, violence and sexual assault against

women is an international phenomenon, part and parcel of world culture. Each person has a responsibility-obligation to be a partof the solution.